


Just Keep Running

by Speedforce_Writer



Series: Reverse Sidekicks AU [1]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Impulse (Comics), The Flash (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types, Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Barry Allen is a good dad, Bart Allen Just Wants Friends, Bart Allen Needs A Hug, Bart Allen is Impulse, Bart is Barry's first sidekick, Bruce Wayne is Good With Kids, F/M, Reverse Sidekicks AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23267767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Speedforce_Writer/pseuds/Speedforce_Writer
Summary: Bart Allen expected what any meta in 2063 expects, to live his life in the service of the government for the greater good. He didn't expect to wake up one day with a broken inhibitor collar and run for it. He definitely didn't expect to time travel to a time before metahumans were slaves, a time when heroes were alive and well, to a time when his favorite hero wasn't dead. He certainly never expected to meet the Flash. Now Bart is living over 40 before he was born and trying to figure out how to live normal, or as normal a life as a speedster from the future can have.Barry has only been the Flash for a couple of years. Now he has a child to raise on top of his job, being the Flash, and trying to have a romantic life. How is he supposed to give a kid a normal life when he has anything but?
Relationships: Barry Allen & Bart Allen, Barry Allen & Hal Jordan, Barry Allen & Oliver Queen, Barry Allen/Iris West, Bart Allen & Cassie Sandsmark, Bart Allen & Cissie King-Jones, Bart Allen & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Bart Allen & Tim Drake, Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent & Cassie Sandsmark, Bart Allen/Cissie King-Jones
Series: Reverse Sidekicks AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673125
Comments: 3
Kudos: 60





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story in my reserve sidekicks AU. I have seen plenty of these specifically focusing on the Robins, and as much as I love those, I have always wanted to see the world from the other DC superfamilies. The Flashes are my absolute favorite and Bart is my favorite Flash family member, so it seemed fit to center my first stories around him. I plan to branch out eventually but right now, he's gonna be the center. Hope you enjoy!

He’d been just eleven years old. Grown up with a collar about his neck and a number on his wrist, doing what he was told and keeping his head bent low. But as much as they tried, they couldn’t keep all the information from them. They found out what had happened. What caused it. They found out about the Flash, about how he died, about how the world spiraled into the hell it was now. He just wished that knowing actually did something.

The day it happened changed everything. He awoke to a buzzing beneath his skin and a feeling like… like this was the first time he had ever really been alive. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he was moving, moving so fast. He sped into the wall then back to his cot, uncertain he had actually moved to begin with. His eyes traveled down to his hands. They were vibrating. His entire body was vibrating and he just needed to  _ run.  _ So he did. He didn’t care what they did to him for it. He didn’t even care if he died. Because for the first time ever, he had something that was his. Maybe this was a dream. It probably was, to be honest, but he didn’t care. For this moment, he was like the Flash. He was a blur, a bolt, pure energy. He pushed himself until his legs burned. He ran until there was nothing around him but lightning and energy and freedom. His hopes and dreams and desires and needs drove him faster and faster. He knew this couldn’t be real but he didn’t care. Never had he had such a very good dream. He would never have stopped if he’d had the choice. 

But, strangely enough, he was dragged to a stop. The earth beneath him dragged as he skid through it and was roughly turned to face, of all people, the Flash. He stared mutely at the dead man before him while the man was just… talking to him.

“I don’t know who on earth you are or where you’re from but running at that speed like that is so insanely irresponsible. What on earth were you thinking? Who are you even? Do your parents know you have these powers and being so irresponsible with them? Are you listening? Oh for goodness sake, just tell me your name.”

The command was what dragged him from his reverie, from all the questions he was wanting to ask. Without so much of a thought, he replied, “Bartholemew Henry Allen II, sir.” Bart Allen tipped his head slightly to show respect, not noticing the shock on the other man’s face. This was truly the best dream he had ever had and he really hoped he never, ever woke up.


	2. Chapter 1

Barry Allen was what one might consider a mess. At least that's what everyone in his life told him. He was never on time, incredibly unorganized, and constantly stuck in his own head. After his recent joining of the Justice League, he had been scolded by Batman on numerous occasions for tardiness and not paying attention during meetings. Superman, the Superman with his super wife and super son and super dog and super life and who was super nice, had even asked if a new alarm clock would help. That was when the speedster realized he really had an issue. It probably should have been when he had been late to work every day for three weeks straight but sue him if he was more worried about Superman’s opinion than anyone else’s. It was Superman!  


Today, he was going to be on time to the meeting. He wouldn’t just be on time, he would be early. It was a Saturday, he wasn’t working, there was absolutely no reason for him to be late. No reason... until a blur of red lightning was seen crossing Central City. He hadn’t seen red lightning since the night his mother had died and no League meeting was more important than seeing the source. It was less than a second of thought before he was off chasing whoever it was. It took a bit of time to locate the other speedster, as they had left Central City by the time he had left to follow. When they were finally in his sight, he knew they had nothing to do with the lightning he had witnessed so many years ago because the source was just a kid. Just a kid who was running incredibly fast all over the place for no apparent reason. Oh, this was not good. 

It took very little to catch up with the kid, who seemed to be around 10 or 11 when he got a better look at him. He was much slower than Barry and all it took was a few decisive strides and a hand on the kid’s arm to catch him and drag him to a stop. 

He was speaking before he really gave himself the chance to look at the kid and his words strongly reflected the annoyance that blossomed inside him as he realized he would be late to the League meeting... again, “I don’t know who on earth you are or where you’re from but running at that speed like that is so insanely irresponsible. What on earth were you thinking? Who are you even? Do your parents know you have these powers and being so irresponsible with them? Are you listening? Oh for goodness sake, just tell me your name.” During his rant he began to actually take in the kid. He was small, with the sort of sharp features and sickly complexion that screams malnourishment. The clothing he was dressed in, which seemed to be some kind of uniform, hung off him like whoever had provided it had had little interest in making sure it fit. He had been given a short, careless haircut, which was uneven in multiple places. But the most concerning thing was the black, metal collar that encircled his neck, three lights blinking red at the center. He was only drawn from his examination of the boy by the answer to his last question.

“Bartholomew Henry Allen II, sir.” The boy had seemed to awaken with the answer, stopping his awed staring at Barry.

Barry, on the other hand, was now the one in awe. He took so long to respond, in fact, that the boy began to speak again, sounding more panicked this time, “I’m sorry I was running like that, sir. I don’t understand what happened. I don’t know why the collar stopped working and I know I shouldn’t have used my powers when it did but I was so surprised and I just n-needed to use them.” His voice sped up and became more desperate with each word. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please don’t p-punish me.”

It was those last, desperate words that drew Barry out of his stupor. He knelt before the child and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, hey, you’re not in trouble and no one is gonna punish you. You did the right thing. Wherever you came from, they were the ones that were wrong.”

“I-I d-don’t understand.” He was beginning to cry now, tears building and spilling down his face. 

“Hey, don’t cry. Buddy, please. Listen you don’t need to be afraid of me. I won’t hurt you, I’d never hurt you.” Barry raised his other hand so he could find the two manual release switches on the boy’s collar. When he found them, he gently removed the collar and tossed it aside. There were half healed rashes all across the boy’s neck where the collar had rubbed and irritated the skin.

At the removal of the collar, a change came over the kid. He put a hand to his neck, feeling the skin there for the first time in who knows how long. He then dropped his hand and stared at Barry in awe once more. Then the kid was hugging him.

Barry hadn’t been expecting the hug but he took it in stride, accepting and returning it. “Okay, buddy, I’m gonna take you to somewhere safe and we’re gonna get you checked out and when you’re ready, I want you to tell me everything, okay?” he felt a nod against his head and took that as permission to stand and carry the kid. Batman wouldn’t be able to complain this time. Barry actually had a good excuse.

\--

Batman still complained. As Green Lantern put it, “He can’t be happy about anything. He’d find a reason to complain about world peace.” In the very least, he seemed to be very good with Bartholomew. He had always heard the Bat was good with kids but seeing it for one’s self was a whole different thing.

While applying a cream to the now nearly healed rash about the young speedster’s neck and giving him a full medical examination, he managed to find out basically everything they needed to know.

“Do you wish to go by your full name or do you prefer something else?” He’d begun, slowly rubbing the ointment into the boy’s neck. Barry sat in the chair across from the examination table because the kid wouldn’t allow him out of his sight.

Clasping his hands together tightly he quietly answered, “I like Bart. Some of the others would call me that... sometimes.”

Batman nodded, “Alright, Bart, I’m going to be checking to see if you have any injuries and just your overall health. Is that alright?”

“Uh huh.”

“And I want you to tell me if you don’t want me to do something, okay?

“Okay.”

“Why don’t you talk while I do this? Maybe just tell me what you think I need to know. You’re obviously a smart kid so I think you know that you’re not in the same world you were this morning.” As he spoke, he grabbed the blood pressure cuff and directed Bart to hold out his arm so he could wrap it around it.

Bart nodded, watching as Batman pumped air into the cuff, “I… I think… Cause this isn’t like a dream or anything. I think I time travelled. You guys are heroes that have been dead a really long time.”

The Dark Knight nodded, checking the numbers. “Like I said, you’re smart. That’s exactly what I was thinking. What year is it supposed to be?” 

“2060… something? I don’t really know, they don’t tell us that kind thing. It isn’t important.”

As Barry listened, righteous anger grew inside him. He could just tell from Bart’s appearance and manner that wherever he had been had not treated him well. It wasn’t just that, though. This child was certainly related to him and the idea that his child or grandchild had allowed this boy to live like this. He wanted to punch something. 

When he tuned back into what was going on, Batman had asked Bart to remove his shirt and the child had complied. It just kept getting worse. He was obviously extremely underfed, which would become a problem very soon with his powers active. His metabolism would prove quite the problem until he was back to a healthy weight and nutrition level. With his long sleeved shirt removed, the black number 5267 was visible across his wrist. But the worst thing was when Bruce had him stand and bend over to check his spine. Scars ran all along his back, the most apparent sign of his mistreatment.

“What exactly was the purpose of the camp you lived in?” The dark vigilante was obviously trying to keep his voice under control, though he was no doubt angry with what he saw.

Bart shrugged as he stood up straight, “To house meta-kids until we were old enough to be assigned a specific job. It depends how old you are, what your powers are, that kinda thing. We weren’t allowed till 18 they said but some went early. I’m supposed to go to energy cause… you know.”

“Hnh.” Was all the vigilante said in response, directing the boy to the scale, “Do you know who the Flash is?”

“Duh.” Was the first thing out of the boy’s mouth that was purely childlike, “S-sorry… I meant, y-ye-”

“You’re fine, Bart. Who’s the Flash?”

“Him.” He pointed at Barry, “He’s the best. He died a long time ago, though. Or… I guess he didn’t. He died a long time ago in the future. He’s one of our favorites. And Superman. He was put in jail.”

“Do you know his real name?”

Bart looked confused, then slowly replied, “The Flash?”

The smallest of smiles touch the Bat’s lips, “That’s his superhero name. But he has a real name too. His secret identity.”

The boy looked taken aback, “I thought those were a joke.”

That got a chuckle out of Batman, “Nope. Completely a thing.” He gestured to Barry, “His name is Bartholmew Henry Allen, he goes by Barry.” 

Now he was speechless. His eyes darting between Barry and Batman until Barry pulled down his cowl. Then the young boy’s almost golden eyes were only on him.

“You… I… you… you look like my dad did before… I didn’t…” Suddenly the boy was hugging Barry, shaking and crying as he held onto him tightly. Barry returned the hug, feeling tears building in his own eyes.

“You’re gonna come live with me, okay? You’ll never go back there.” Barry gave a glare to Batman in case he contradicted him but it wasn’t necessary. The Dark Knight would never make a child go back to something like that, even if it was against the normal rules of time travel. Besides, if Booster Gold was allowed to traipse around, no way were they sending this kid back, ever.


End file.
